Connecticut gun makers ponder an exodus

Rob Varnon

Published 10:48 pm, Friday, April 12, 2013

Nick Ecker sounds like a man conflicted. The owner of Charter Arms in Shelton, he loves his community and state where he's built his business, but now, he's not sure Connecticut wants him here.

Like other Connecticut gun makers, Ecker is facing a decision of whether to stay. A new law signed last week outlaws some of their products -- though not expressly his firm's -- and requires more paperwork for customers to buy legal products. The fallout for the state would be significant economically, as the industry employs nearly 3,000 workers directly, with many earning wages that in some cases top $70,000 a year, according to a trade association.

"We are looking at all options because as a business, you have to," Ecker said Friday by phone. He said some states have offered to build him a new factory if he moves his business and the 40 Charter Arms employees. Some workers have even looked online at home prices and talked about where they would like to live and what kinds of deals they can get. He said he's heard from Kentucky and looked in Wyoming and other parts of the nation.

But he said, "We like being local. I love New England."

This was the place where the business was founded in 1964. Ecker's father joined Charter as a partner in 1967, and Nick Ecker, after almost 20 years there, became the company's sole proprietor in 2002. In December of last year, Charter Arms moved into a building of its own in Shelton, which Ecker bought and renovated, investing a total of $850,000. His ties, and his companies ties to the community are deep, he said.

Earlier this week, Bristol-based PTR announced it was leaving Connecticut after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed the state's new gun law, which bans about 100 weapons, reduces the number of rounds that clips can hold and requires registration for shotguns and rifles. It also requires gun owners to get permits for ammunition.

The law was passed in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Adam Lanza, 20, of Newtown, killed his mother, then drove to the school and killed 20 first-graders and six staff members using a Bushmaster-model rifle similar to a military assault weapon.

Like everyone he knows, he's still stunned by the tragedy, Ecker said. However, what Connecticut lawmakers did won't prevent another one, nor will it reduce gun violence in general, he said.

He said lawmakers required more permits and registration, but criminals who get guns often use straw purchasers, so he doesn't see how this helps law enforcement crack down on those sales.

What's most concerning to him, he said, is the environment: It doesn't appear the state wants gun makers to stay.

Malloy has apparently sent letters to some gun makers offering some assistance, though it's unclear if there is a formal plan to help the companies adjust to the new law. The state Department of Economic and Community Development was unable to say whether something was in the works Friday.

Other gun manufacturers have expressed similar concerns about the climate here.

Joseph H. Bartozzi, senior vice president and general counsel of North Haven-based O.F. Mossberg & Sons, sent a letter to Gov. Malloy expressing outrage and concerns over statements Malloy made on CNN. Particularly galling to Bartozzi was Malloy's statement that the industry didn't care who gets the guns, as long as sales increase.

Bartozzi's letter called the comments insulting and slanderous, especially as Mossberg has cooperated with the administration, and its employees testified during hearings on the gun legislation.

"At a time when we are being encouraged to move our manufacturing facility to any one of several states, your words make us feel most unwelcome," Bartozzi wrote. "In a state where our company has been providing good, well-paying jobs for over nine decades, your words make us feel decidedly unappreciated."

Mossberg, the famed shotgun maker, was founded in Connecticut 94 years ago. It owns a facility in North Haven and employs 270 people, making it one of the largest gun making employers in the state.

Colt Defense in West Hartford is probably the biggest employer, with more than 400 workers in the state. Some of its weapons can no longer be sold in the state, even though they can still be manufactured here.

Stag Firearms in New Britain has about 200 employees, and executives there have pointed out the seeming hypocrisy of allowing them to make weapons that are illegal in the state and sell them in other parts of the country.

Sturm, Ruger and Co., based in the Southport section of Fairfield, has the bulk of its nearly 1,500 employees at its production facilities in New Hampshire and Arizona.

Mike Bazinet, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation in Newtown, said offers are coming in to many of these companies from other states that will build factories for them. He said it's not just Connecticut where gun makers are feeling unwelcome.

Beretta, based in Maryland, is considering leaving that state as lawmakers look to ban some of its weapons. Colorado is losing an ammunition maker after it passed new restrictions on guns.

Moving isn't an easy proposition for gun makers. Besides outfitting new factories, they have to either hire new workers or get the present ones to come with them. And those employees and the companies themselves will have property left behind to sell.

Ruger, which reported net sales of $491 million in 2012, owns its headquarter building on Lacey Place just off the Post Road, an attractive commercial area.

Colt, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, has a lease that expires in October of 2015 in West Hartford.

Bazinet said gun makers here are concerned about consumers who are threatening to boycott their products unless they leave the state.

On Ruger's Facebook page, a New Yorker and a woman from Florida both said they would be getting rid of their Ruger guns unless the company left Connecticut.

Ruger did not respond to requests for comment Friday. The company will hold its annual meeting on April 30 in Arizona.

Ecker said he's gotten letters and emails like that, too.

"It's just disheartening," he said, though he added he won't base his decision to leave or stay on those emails. "It's almost like blackmail."

What's now holding him back from moving is all of Charter's vendors are in Connecticut, and he said he's always tried to remain loyal to his home state and local industry. If he moves, he'll have to replace an entire supply chain.